Dolly Parton's Imagination Library will keep mailing free books to more than 16,000 children in the Portland metro area, including Beaverton, despite the country music icon's death Aug. 25.
Kelly O'Lague, president and CEO of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, told The Oregonian that the program's commitment to local families is unchanged.
United Way serves as the local nonprofit partner for Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.
"Dolly didn't build the Imagination Library to last for her lifetime. She built it to last for theirs," O'Lague said.
Since joining the program in November 2024, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette has enrolled more than 16,000 children and mailed more than 230,000 books across the tri-county area. The organization expects to spend over $200,000 on the program this year.
The need is larger. The nonprofit estimates more than 67,000 children in the metro region are eligible but not yet enrolled.
Statewide reach
The Imagination Library sends one free, age-appropriate book each month to enrolled children from birth until age 5. A child signed up at birth receives 60 books by kindergarten.
Parton launched the program in 1995 to serve her home county in Tennessee, inspired by her father's inability to read or write. It now operates in five countries and has distributed more than 300 million books globally, according to OPB.
In Oregon, 4.5 million books have been delivered since 2007. More than 77,000 children are currently enrolled statewide, representing 36% of Oregon children under 5, according to Laurie McNichols, state director of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Oregon.
Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill June 18 codifying the program into state law. Oregon legislators allocated nearly $2 million to the program in 2023, and the state and local nonprofit partners each cover 50% of the roughly $30-per-child annual cost, according to Oregon Capital Chronicle.
What comes next
The Dollywood Foundation, which runs the Imagination Library nationally, said in a statement Aug. 25 that the program was built to outlast its founder. The foundation quoted Parton's own reflection: her father told her the Imagination Library was "probably the most important thing" she had ever done.
In lieu of flowers, Parton's family asked for donations to the Imagination Library.
Beaverton-area families can sign up children at no cost and with no income requirements at imaginationlibrary.com.
